Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Cecil the Lion has been killed. That's a big deal, as it should be, but as you may know ... killing lions and other "big game" has been a sport (sport) for decades - centuries - so it shouldn't have come as such a surprize to the Twitterverse that a lion was killed by a doctor on safari. The Internet is acting like big-game hunting is a new thing. That's sad.

What is more sad (sadder) is that big airlines and Senators are jumping on the bandwagon, soliciting public opinion on behalf of an animal with a name.

Cecil.

It makes him seem more human. The truth is, abominal humans have been killing lions, rhinos, tigers, and giraffes for a long time. It's about time you woke up.

The Pope is coming. You knew that, right? He's coming, and the city will be shut down for at least two days. What's odd about that is that a church that pays no taxes will depend on a local government to provide security and transportation at the expense of its citizens - a.k.a. tax money. And, it appears that nobody is raising a fuss. So, go ahead and have your Pope here. Include me out.

There are more Republicans running for President than there are churches - which is an odd thing, too. Most of them have no shot, and it makes me wonder why they bother -- other than the money. Oh yeah, that's it. The money. There are so many of them that one - Donald Trump - has the "lead" with 24% of the vote. That's both pathetic and amazing. It's bad enough that we can elect a president with 51% of the popular vote, among 40% of registered voters - which amounts to about a 30% "majority" - now, the Republicans will nominate a guy with 24% populatity. It's entirely possible that our next president will be elected with 25% of the voters in favor. Is this the government we want, or is it just a national version of "American Idol?"

At least it isn't as hot as it's been over the last few days. We have that going for us, which is nice.